Dairy – Craig Cooks

Cheese-making

January 16, 2018 by admin 2 Comments

[Feta with chilli and coriander seeds, lemon and thyme, bay leaves and black peppercorns.]

Tomorrow I’m doing a talk about cheese for our local church, so I thought I’d put my notes here.

I’ve always loved cheese. My father, David, was an agricultural scientist specialising in dairy products, and later became the Director of Dairying for the Dept of Primary Industries in Queensland (and later Fisheries, but that’s another story.)

A couple of years ago I attended a three-hour cheese-making session run through WEA here in Adelaide. The teacher was Sheree who was co-owner of Udder Delights here in the Adelaide Hills. (The have recently sold the business). We made feta, and tin the way home I bought a second-hand wine fridge and I was underway (or under whey…).

You can do a more expensive cheese-making session at Udder Delights – details here – or at Woodside Cheeses – details here….

Haloumi and Goat Curd

August 19, 2017 by admin Leave a Comment

This past week I’ve made goat curd and haloumi for the first time.

The goat curd is pretty easy.

4 litres of goat milk

1 sachet of cheese culture for goat chèvre (mine came from Green Living Australia). This is who I get most of my cheese supplies from. However Udder Delights shop in Hahndorf also sell stuff from Mad Millie in New Zealand, so I can easily pop over there and pick up some culture!

The culture that I have came from New England Cheesemaking Supply Company.

I have a 4 litre easy that I use to keep my milk solution warm.

1 pot with lid
1 esky
1 colander
1 slotted metal spoon
Muslin
Thermometer

…

Mushroom Tarte Tartin

June 7, 2017 by admin Leave a Comment

Tonight I’m once again making a mushroom tarte tartin with button, oyster, shitake, swiss brown and enoki mushrooms, with leeks and feta on the bottom and topped with haloumi and goat curd. [Original recipe from Delicious magazine, July 2013]

500g mixed mushrooms – cut larger ones in half. Use an oven-proof frypan.

Saute in 40g unsalted butter and 1 tbs olive oil (I used garlic infused oil) and a pinch of salt on medium heat for 3-4 mins until softerned. (I found in the cooking process that the shitake mushrooms took much longer thatn the others to soften).

Add 1 clove garlic, chopped and 1 tsp thyme leaves. Cook, stirring often, until liquid has disappeared and mushrooms are soft and well cooked. This will take quite a while. Season with salt and pepper.

At this stage I departed from the recipe and on top I put crumbled feta cheese, sliced leek sauteed in butter, and a squeeze of lemon juice (about a teaspoon).

Place a sheet of puff pastry (cut off corners to make it round) over the mushroom mixture and tuck the edges under the mushrooms, It’s an upside-down tart so try to flatten it a bit so its even.

Cook in oven at 200C for about 25 mins until pastry is puffed and golden brown. Remove from oven and rest for a couple of minutes. Invert the pan onto a serving place. Top with haloumi, goat curd and some parsley..

Baked Brie and Goat Cheese

June 3, 2017 by admin Leave a Comment

This evening the two of us shared this baked cheese meal with some things to dip and add.

This recipe is adapted slightly from the one that came with the cheese baking container (with lid, not pictured).

1 piece of King Island triple cream brie (it was oblong rather than round, so it didn’t fill the container)

You could use camembert…

Put slivers of garlic and rosemary into the top of the brie.

Add a couple of tablespoons of white wine.

I diverted from the recipe by adding goat curd into the spaces on the sides of the oblong brie, and then stuff some halved cherry tomatoes in as well. So we ended up with a goaty cheese sauce around the brie.

Back to following the recipe, I chopped a red onion, cooked it slowly in butter and then added 2 tbsp balsamic vinegar. This was served as a side add-on rather than on the dish.

Bake the cheese for 15 mins at 175C.

Afterwards I sprinkled on some good quality local smoked bacon (Kanmantoo), cooked and blitzed to a crumb.

We had cheesy sticks and bread to dip into it, some torn up flatbread, the caramelised onion, olives, fresh cherry tomatoes.

Rich? Yes? Yummy? Yes. Will we do this again? Yes!